Netflix ‘second-best value in America’: Mark Mahaney

Despite a recent sell-off, Netflix stock has higher to climb because of its strong subscriptions and a growing international business, RBC Capital Markets Managing Director Mark Mahaney said Tuesday.

The online-streaming media company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings this week, and it also announced an increase in its subscription cost of $1 to $2 per month for new subscribers—a price hike that won't likely drive away customers, Mahaney said.

"You look at Amazon, Netflix and Pandora, I think all of them have proven value propositions, and they're able to raise pricing. They've got pricing power because of those value propositions," he said on CNBC's "Halftime Report."

Mahaney, with a $500 price target and an "outperform" rating on the stock, said the service Netflix provides would remain relatively inexpensive even after the proposed price increase.

"I know you're going to be talking about McDonald's later, but I've been saying for a while I think that the Netflix subscription package of $7.99, even $8.99, is the second-best value in America after the Happy Meal," he said. "I mean, come on, you get unlimited content for 8 bucks a month, a lot of original content you can't find anywhere else. And we've seen rising satisfaction levels for Netflix subs."

Mahaney said he had commissioned surveys that found 64 percent of current Netflix subscribers wouldn't likely cancel because of a price increase, while 16 percent would likely cancel.

Tackling the issue of Netflix stock's valuation, around 24 times EBITDA, Mahaney said that there was a more accurate way to view it.

"This company's profits are currently extremely depressed by all their international investments. You have to take those out, or you have to kind of take a sum-of-the-parts approach," he said. "How much do you want to pay for the U.S. business and then the international business? That EBITDA can almost double overnight. All you have to do is shut down all their loss-making international operations. We don't think that'd be a good move for the company's long-term value."